


Down the Rabbit Hole

by nmarlow



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 13:01:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nmarlow/pseuds/nmarlow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichabod catches up on what he missed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down the Rabbit Hole

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mihrsuri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/gifts).



It starts with Ichabod catching a cold. One of many as it turns out. Being dead for 200 years means he has no immunity to modern strains and he catches everything going around.  
“200 years and no cure for the common cold. Such things as donut holes and hair dryers have been invented but…”  
“Are you going to keep complaining or do you want to see what I’ve brought you?” Abbie interrupts him, holding up a bag. “My apologies Lieutenant, I should not take my frustration over being ill out on you” “Apology accepted” she replies and holds out a steaming container of chicken noodle soup. “You cooked?” he asks, smiling. “Don’t think this will be a regular thing” she warns him and unloads the rest of the bag. Ichabod almost apologises again when he feels the aloe vera tissues “So soft!”  
After dishing up the food, Abbie holds up a DVD. “When I was little, before everything, Jenny and I used to watch this when we were sick” she says as she puts it on, “and, you should learn a bit about what you’ve missed while you were dead”.  


“Giant rats!” exclaims Ichabod a little later, horrified. “This is a story for children?”  
“Don’t worry, Crane, it all works out in the end.”

“Thank you for a lovely evening, Miss Mills” Ichabod tells her after the credits, smiling, “and for sharing with me your family tradition. I truly enjoyed it.”  
“You’re welcome, I enjoyed it too. I haven’t watched it in years.”

Then Ichabod catches another cold. After tramping through the woods for hours following up on reports of a strange creature, Ichabod is miserable and Abbie takes him home, then leaves promising to be back soon. She returns with a bag and the comment “you’re going to love this one”. Ichabod is soon sitting on the couch with a steaming bowl of soup and the movie is playing.  


“Minions?”  


And then it becomes a tradition. After every case and whenever Ichabod is sick, Abbie takes food out to the cabin and they watch a movie.  
“I need to get you hooked up to the internet out here, then we can get you a Netflix subscription.” After a pause, “You have no idea what I just said do you?”  
“Indeed”  


When Ichabod worries about wasting time that would be better spent fighting the forces of evil or doing research, Abbie responds, “You need to learn about modern culture” but it’s also because she loves his reactions to what they watch.  


“Why are his undergarments on the outside?” “One of the great questions of our time, Crane.”  


Science fiction bemuses him because it all seems so unlikely until Abbie tells him about the moon landing.  


“What is the difference between Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate? And what is a reboot?  


His indignation over Star Wars and Jar Jar Binks is classic. “What were the creators of this imaginative tale thinking?!”  


When Ichabod asks if all modern culture is about forgetful fish and aliens trying to phone home, Abbie replies, “not all, Crane, these are popular movies that everyone should see at least once.” “Are there not movies of a more serious nature?” “Sure, why don’t we watch some Shakespeare next?” “Shakespeare? He is still popular?” “Of course” Abbie replies as she cues up Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice on Netflix.  
Ichabod practically mainlines every movie adaptation of Shakespeare he can find and then moves onto Charles Dickens and Jane Austen at Abbie’s suggestion. “These are wondrous! At Oxford I saw several of his plays performed and now I can watch these whenever I want! They are so different and yet the same” he says, smiling wistfully.  


One night, as Alice tips down into the rabbit hole on the screen, Ichabod exclaims, “Ah, I understand the reference now. These past few weeks have indeed been disconcerting.” "This movie is based on a book you know.” “Indeed?” “Yes, remind me to get you a library card.”  
And Ichabod does slowly start to understand some of the cultural references he hears in conversation at the station and he even ventures to make some himself occasionally.  


“I am nothing like Captain America. He was only frozen for 70 years.”  


“Inconceivable!”  


“Even I know that a time travelling car is impossible”  


And when reports come in of a possible ghost, “who are you going to call?” Ichabod says with a straight face.  


When Abbie warns him about sharing donuts with the nightshift, Ichabod replies “Why? Must I not feed them after midnight?” “No” Abbie grins, “nobody wants to deal with probie deputies hopped up on too much sugar, that’s all.”  


After Roanoke, when they are walking back through the forest Abbie tells Ichabod, “We should get you your shots.” “Shots?” Ichabod’s expression is worried. “Please tell me that is not what it sounds like?”  
“Don’t worry, Crane, shots are immunisations. The doctors give you injections to protect you against some diseases.”  
“It sounds similar to variolation. All British soldiers were variolated against smallpox during the war. I still have the scar on my arm.”  
“Well, we can’t have you catching any other deadly diseases. I’ll bring soup and The Princess Bride for after.” Ichabod smiles at this touching display of affection.  


Sometimes, when it’s dark and the credits are rolling, they talk about more serious things. A couple of days before Jenny is due to move into Abbie’s place, Ichabod asks if she thinks it will go well. “I don’t know, I hope so”…. “The truth is I've always been angry at myself for not telling the truth back then. And I was also angry with her. I could see how it was going, what the detective thought. We turned up, apparently unharmed, after three days missing. He figured we’d run off and he treated us like we were suspects. Put us in the interrogation room. We had no one to stand up for us. And Jenny just kept insisting, over and over, that it was a demon. Mom was already in care. I just wanted Jenny to stop and see what they were thinking. But Jenny has always had to do things her own way… yes alright Crane, you can stop looking at me like that. I should have told the truth. They were never going to believe us, it all sounded so impossible, but then, at least, we would have been in it together. I just hope she can forgive me and we can learn to live with each other again.”  


After the evil tree and finding out about the existence of Ichabod’s son, the bag Abbie takes him doesn’t contain soup or a DVD. It contains alcohol.  
Later that evening and after a few drinks, Ichabod says, “We shared a true, wondrous love and yet… can love be true without trust, and without honesty can there be trust? Katrina kept from me that she was a witch and now I find we had a son. What more has she not told me?”  
“I don’t know, Ichabod, but you’re not alone in this. We’ll face it together.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the very first fic I have ever written, please forgive any mistakes.
> 
> TV and Movie References:  
> The Princess Bride  
> Despicable Me  
> Superman  
> Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate  
> Finding Nemo  
> E.T. The Extra Terrestrial  
> Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice  
> Alice in Wonderland  
> Captain America  
> Back to the Future  
> Ghostbusters  
> Gremlins


End file.
